


The Way To A Man's Heart

by cindergal



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: Community: schmoop_bingo, M/M, Schmoop, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 10:04:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2688740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cindergal/pseuds/cindergal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Reid vs. the Hubbard squash. Who will win?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Way To A Man's Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Reposting my Luke/Reid fic from LJ.

It's the first family holiday they'll be spending together with Luke's crew, and Reid is fine with it. Looking forward to it, even, if only because it makes Luke so damn happy that he's going to be there. Until the day of, when he has an anxiety attack and sweats through his first two shirts and has to take another shower.

"I can't believe it," Luke says, with a shit-eating grin. "The great and powerful Reid Oliver, the man who holds people's lives in his hands on a daily basis without batting an eye, is terrified of my grandmother."

"Stop. Just...stop," Reid says, as he pulls another shirt violently off its hanger. "This isn't funny."

"I'm sorry!" Luke says, but he can't stop laughing. "Reid. Relax," he says, as Reid frowns at himself in the mirror. "You're not going to the prom, you're going to dinner. At the farm. Nobody cares what you wear. It's...a farm."

Reid finally gives up, and sits down on the end of the bed next to Luke. "It's just...I'm not used to this."

"What? Thanksgiving?"

"Family...stuff. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm really not good with parents. Or grandparents..."

"Well, you're not good with anybody, really."

Reid laughs out loud. "Thanks. I feel so much better, now."

Luke grins. "Come on, it's Thanksgiving! I would think it would be your favorite holiday - it's all about food. Didn't you have a big Thanksgiving dinner with your family growing up?"

"Not really. I’m an only child. My parents aren't very domestic. The three of us usually went out to a restaurant."

Luke's eyebrows shoot up. "Oh? That sounds...nice." His expression is all compassion and sympathy and big, sad eyes, the ones that always turn Reid's stone cold heart to a big pile of warm mush. And he can't have that. Today's going to be hard enough to get through as it is.

"It was pathetic," Reid says seriously. "And do you know what the worst thing was?"

"What?" Luke asks gently, taking his hand.

"No leftovers."

Luke nudges him playfully. "Jerk. But don't worry. There will be plenty of leftovers for you today."

Reid smiles, and feels some of his anxiety start to melt away. "Well, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, after all."

***

The first thing Reid sees when he gets out of the car at Luke's grandmother's house is Noah Mayer. And he's _chopping fricking wood._

Reid pulls at the collar of his shirt, starting to feel a little warm despite the frost on the ground. Not that Reid has any reason to be anxious. It's not like Luke's family ever compares the two of them and finds Harvard grad, coveted Shillito fellowship recipient and fucking Lasker medical prize winner Reid Oliver M.D. falling ever so short of the great part-time barista and amateur film maker Noah Mayer in the boyfriend department. No, _that_ never happens.

Leftovers, Reid says to himself. Keep thinking about the leftovers.

"Noah! I wasn't expecting you," Luke says, with a big, genuine smile.

Noah shoulders his axe and smiles back. You can't help smile back when Luke Snyder smiles at you, Reid has decided. Noah is dressed in a suitably lumberjacky way in a plaid shirt that emphasizes his extremely broad shoulders, and Reid tries and fails not to be intimidated. The man doesn't like him, and he is holding an axe, after all.

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting me, either. But your mother..." Noah explains, and Luke laughs.

"Say no more. It's nice to see you. Thanksgiving's all about family, and you're part of the family, Noah." 

Reid's heart starts to sink until he feels Luke's arm snake around his waist and tug him closer. "We're all cool, right?" he says, giving Reid one of those mush-inducing looks. 

"Just put down the axe, and everything will be fine," Reid jokes, putting his hands up in mock surrender. 

Noah actually laughs at this, and Reid chuckles and Luke beams at them both. Then, convinced that everything is indeed cool, he takes off after his father to check out an ailing horse in the barn.

Noah swings the axe down swiftly and impressively one more time, leaving it embedded in a log. Reid tries not to flinch.

"Sorry if my being here makes you uncomfortable," Noah offers, though he doesn't really seem that sorry. "Lily insisted that I be here because..."

"You're like a son to them. I know. Believe me, I know."

Noah gives him a wry smile and claps him on the shoulder a littler harder than is strictly necessary. "The Snyders are hard to say no to. You'll learn that soon enough." he says, laughing as he walks into the house. 

Reid takes out his beeper and stares at it, willing it to go off. He even checks the battery. It's working perfectly, but just lays there in his hand, mocking him with its silence. Finally, he shoves it back into his pocket.

"Traitor."

***

Luke and Reid have barely made their entrance when the apparently famous annual hunt for some kind of squash or something is announced. Reid begs off, citing the importance of his hands and their incompatibility with giant squashes which might...squash them. To his credit, he realizes he's made some sort of huge faux pas when the room full of approximately a gazillion assorted Snyders goes silent. Holden clears his throat, drafts Noah into service instead, and the two of them, along with Jack and Luke. head outside to retrieve the intrepid gourd.

Reid stands there awkwardly until Carly Snyder sidles up to him and hands him a beer, opening a soda for herself. Although he hasn't spent much time with her, he recognized her as a sort of kindred spirit right from the start. 

"For a smart guy, you really are kind of dense, aren't you?" she asks with a disarming smile. 

Reid takes a swig of his beer. "Apparently. Want to fill me in?"

"The whole Hubbard squash thing - it's a right of passage for Snyder men. A bonding ritual, if you will."

"Seriously?" Reid asks.

She rolls her eyes. "I know, it's silly. But _seriously_ , it was your opportunity to be a part of the family, and what did you do? You let the ex-boyfriend take your place."

Reid sighs heavily. "I guess I am actually more than _kind of_ dense."

"You can still save it," she says, nodding toward the porch where the Snyder men - and Noah - are struggling to bring the mutant vegetable through the door.

"How?"

"You're a surgeon, aren't you? Means you're pretty good at carving things up?"

Reid clinks his bottle with hers. "I owe you one."

She gives him a devilish look. "And I won't forget it."

"So," Reid says, walking over to the kitchen counter to stand next to Luke. "This is kind of like a skull." He knocks on the squash and it makes a satisfying thumping sound. 

"I guess it is," Holden says with a laugh.

"It's not a bone saw, Doc," Jack says, passing Reid a hand saw as the other men hold the squash steady, "but lets see what you can do."

***

"Thank you," Luke whispers in his ear, as they sit down at the table. His breath is warm on Reid's neck, and his lips brush the shell of Reid's ear.

Reid turns his head and sees Luke's shining, happy face, and is incredulous that carving a fucking squash has gotten this reaction. He feels a little giddy.

"You're welcome," Reid says, and Luke kisses him sweetly. Right there at the table in front of everybody.

"Okay, you lovebirds, it's time to say grace!" Luke's grandmother says. Reid doesn't know whether to be annoyed or embarrassed at the term 'lovebirds', but then he sees Noah rolling his eyes, and decides he kind of likes it.

They all hold hands around the table, Luke on his left and Emma at the head of the table on his right, and Reid says 'amen' to the fact that they are finally going to eat when Emma tells them there is one more thing. 

"This has been such an eventful year, and we have so much to be thankful for. So I would like to go around the table and ask everyone to talk about one reason they have to give thanks.”

After Emma says something Hallmark card-worthy, she begins with Holden to her right, on the opposite side of the table from Reid, which gives him plenty of time to panic and wonder what the hell he's going to say. Everyone says the same sort of inane things about love and family and new beginnings, blah, blah, blah, until they get to Noah.

Noah takes a deep breath and clears his throat, plainly a little choked up. "Last year... I wasn't able to be here. I was still recovering from my accident, even though Luke did bring me some of Emma's incredible dinner. Including extra sweet potatoes," he says, and everyone laughs. "So this year, I'm very thankful to be here, and I'm especially thankful to -- literally-- _see_ all of you." He gives a nod of acknowledgment to Reid.

Damn. He really is a nice guy. It's so annoying.

Luke speaks soon after, and he says something typically sappy and completely sincere about being grateful to have so many people he loves all in one place. And Reid is once again amazed that he is now included in that admittedly large group of people.

When it's finally Reid's turn, he still doesn't know what to say. He's never been much for public declarations, and the fact that the Snyders are forcing him into one makes him even more inclined to make a joke of it. Until Luke squeezes his hand under the table and gives him the mush-making look again. 

Reid sighs heavily. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

"Last year," he says, " _I_ was eating a Hungry Man turkey dinner in the doctor's lounge, trying to watch the football game on a really tiny TV with bad reception. So this year, I am thankful to be here, with all of you. And especially with this turkey,” he says, and everyone laughs. Reid is surprised to find that he actually means what he says, even discounting the turkey. 

"And we are very, very happy to have you here, too, dear," Emma Snyder says, putting her hand over his. 

Reid braves a glance at Luke, and his sunny smile forces Reid to smile right back. In fact, Reid is feeling so atypically warm and fuzzy that he can’t help but let down his defenses as he addresses the entire table full of Snyders, speaking simply and sincerely and from the heart.

"Okay. So, can we eat now?"


End file.
